Chances for CCM fellowship?

[Mama_DO]

Hi everyone, I've searched around for some advice, but with how things seemed so competitive for CCM this year, I'm hoping for some specific advice.

I'm an AMG DO starting an AOA IM residency at a community program without fellowships in July. I passed all the comlexes on first attempt, unfortunately with sub-par scores (due to life getting in the way during med school, no learning issues), and did not take any step exams. I have research in med school, to include a public health clinical study that I am writing up for publication. I have an extensive background in clinical research prior to med school and plan on building on that in residency. I'd like to do either CCM or PCCM and my career goals are to do research, hopefully in academic medicine.

My question- what can/should I do in residency to maximize my chances at matching? I have a wonderful PD who will do everything they can to help me match. I'm not set on any area, so I'll apply broadly. I have decent research help at my program, so I will do as much as I can. I'm in a DO program, so should I do auditions at places I'm interested in? Does getting a high score on comlex 3 matter? Is there any point to taking step 3 (or can I even do that)?

I have no reference point for fellowship, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

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[CCM-MD]

Hi everyone, I've searched around for some advice, but with how things seemed so competitive for CCM this year, I'm hoping for some specific advice.

I'm an AMG DO starting an AOA IM residency at a community program without fellowships in July. I passed all the comlexes on first attempt, unfortunately with sub-par scores (due to life getting in the way during med school, no learning issues), and did not take any step exams. I have research in med school, to include a public health clinical study that I am writing up for publication. I have an extensive background in clinical research prior to med school and plan on building on that in residency. I'd like to do either CCM or PCCM and my career goals are to do research, hopefully in academic medicine.

My question- what can/should I do in residency to maximize my chances at matching? I have a wonderful PD who will do everything they can to help me match. I'm not set on any area, so I'll apply broadly. I have decent research help at my program, so I will do as much as I can. I'm in a DO program, so should I do auditions at places I'm interested in? Does getting a high score on comlex 3 matter? Is there any point to taking step 3 (or can I even do that)?

I have no reference point for fellowship, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Looks like you already have the research part covered, some posters or a paper in residency would be solid. Try to secure some good LORs. An away rotation can be considered but usually I recommend against this - can be harmful rather than helpful. Apply as widely as possible when you do - this will be key. Most programs won't know what comlex scores mean and what their correlation is to USMLE scores. I would try to do as well as you can but I don't think your score will make a huge difference - just make sure you pass on the first time.

People get too worried about things that are out of their control - forget about those. Do everything you can to maximize your chances by working on things you can control and apply very widely. Its not going to be a walk in the park but you probably have a shot at getting in somewhere.

 

[Soccer171983]

As a fellow in DO pulm CC program I highly highly recommend getting out rotations to get some facetime. I am on of the few and the first "outsider" that got into my program. I can tell you that having three years of interaction with residents does give an advantage but if someone does auditions and shows that they are stronger than "in house" residents it helps!

 

[BinderClip]

Hi everyone, I've searched around for some advice, but with how things seemed so competitive for CCM this year, I'm hoping for some specific advice.

I'm an AMG DO starting an AOA IM residency at a community program without fellowships in July. I passed all the comlexes on first attempt, unfortunately with sub-par scores (due to life getting in the way during med school, no learning issues), and did not take any step exams. I have research in med school, to include a public health clinical study that I am writing up for publication. I have an extensive background in clinical research prior to med school and plan on building on that in residency. I'd like to do either CCM or PCCM and my career goals are to do research, hopefully in academic medicine.

My question- what can/should I do in residency to maximize my chances at matching? I have a wonderful PD who will do everything they can to help me match. I'm not set on any area, so I'll apply broadly. I have decent research help at my program, so I will do as much as I can. I'm in a DO program, so should I do auditions at places I'm interested in? Does getting a high score on comlex 3 matter? Is there any point to taking step 3 (or can I even do that)?

I have no reference point for fellowship, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

I'm a DO in an ACGME-accredited Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship. I did not apply to AOA-accredited programs, so I can't speak to the experiences for those. My home program did not have a PCCM fellowship

• Maximizing chances:
  • Research, strong letters, able to identify clinical skills
  • Go to conferences - a program director once told me the most important research that you'll ever do is the one you bring to completion. That means conferences & publications.
  • I volunteered for the code committee and was a chief resident, which helped with supporting my position that I was interested in academics and leadership.
• Research:
  • Definitely keep up the research, especially if you're interested in academics. It's important to demonstrate that you're serious about it and that you're a fit for the program's goals.
• Auditions:
  • Can't comment. Didn't have any audition rotations. Please understand that you're going to a different program that may have different EMRs and a different culture. It could be really helpful to obtain a LoR but you're going up against a few hurdles if the EMR isn't what you're used to.
• COMLEX Level 3 Score:
  • Short answer: Yes, it could.
  • At least from an ACGME perspective, your scores do matter to get past the screening process. Remember, programs are receiving several times the number of application than they have positions for, so they have to find some way to determine who to interview. In this sense, since ITE scores aren't reported, the most objective scores would be your COMLEX scores.
• Step 3:
  • You're not eligible since you didn't take the previous Step series.
• General advice:
  • Keep your CV up to date so that once you apply, it's easier and stress free. You'l have it all complete and ready to go without having to miss a beat.
  • Let PCCM attendings know that you're interested and ask them for advice. Get to know them and give them plenty of time to write a letter for you so that it's not generic and templated from your CV.
  • I applied broadly (excluded regional preferences and top 30 programs). It cost a lot of money but it was important to have the choice to interview rather than getting nothing and delaying the cycle.

Good luck!

 

[taelvin]

I applied broadly (excluded regional preferences and top 30 programs).

Mind if I ask how many programs in total that was? And how many interview invites the yield was? Did you end up cancelling?

Thank you for the extra details! This process can be like a mystery sometime

 

[BinderClip]

Mind if I ask how many programs in total that was? And how many interview invites the yield was? Did you end up cancelling?

Thank you for the extra details! This process can be like a mystery sometime

Sure! I applied to about 90-100 (details are hazy due to it being almost a year ago).

I received 15-16 invites and canceled 3. I went on 13 interviews. Most interviews were canceled because I couldn't fit them in due to overlapping schedules. I found it more difficult to try and schedule by region, so just fit the interviews when I could. That cost a lot of money to be honest.

 

[tartesos]

Your chances are pretty good. Good luck!